41pc of companies in India lost over Rs 64 lakh in the current fiscal due to breaches, according to Palo Alto Networks latest ‘The State of Cybersecurity in Asia-Pacific’ reportBangalore: Despite increased spending, Palo Alto Networks study revealed that 41% of companies in India have lost over Rs 64 lakh in the current financial year.

According to Palo Alto Networks latest report ‘The State of Cybersecurity in Asia-Pacific’ 92% of organisations in India has increased their cybersecurity budgets.

This survey was conducted to help gain deep insights around behavior and attitudes towards cybersecurity throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including India.

Key findings in India revealed:

• There has been recent growth in cybersecurity budgets: Businesses acknowledge the importance of ensuring business continuity amidst the persistence and growing sophistication of cyber threats, and 92% of organisations have increased their budget for cybersecurity in this financial year.

• Internal and external challenges contribute to cybersecurity issues: The three major cybersecurity challenges organisations face are employees’ lack of cybersecurity awareness (47%), risk from third-party services (43%) and migration to cloud (35%).

• ‘Detect and respond’ approach overrules a ‘breach prevention’ strategy, but this needs to be revisited: 79% of respondents indicated their organisations place more importance on detection and response of cyber threats than prevention. Data breaches remain costly, meanwhile, with 41% of respondents revealing they have lost at least Rs 64,55,500 ($100,000) in financial year 2016 -17 due to such breaches. This raises question around the effectiveness of responding to threats only after incidents are detected, rather than taking a preventive stance.

• Cybersecurity measures adopted are rather basic: According to the survey, organisations predominantly adopt basic security measures. Respondents indicated the highest adoption rates for antivirus (77%) and firewall (74%), whereas anti-ransomware (37%), two-factor authentication (35%) and biometrics (46%) have fallen on the lower end of the spectrum.

• Organisations are filling their need for dedicated cybersecurity talent: 95% of Indian organisations feel they have a strong hold of dedicated IT teams against cyber threats – a notably high figure compared to other APAC countries with only 84%. Manufacturing and finance sectors are the top verticals when it comes to ensuring they are well-equipped with a professional team to prevent cyber threats.

Across the Asia-Pacific region, the key finding from the report is the need to promote greater cybersecurity awareness and education among organisations. While budgets are increasing, 46% of Asia-Pacific organisations are struggling to keep up with the increasingly sophisticated cyber threats and finding the appropriate solutions to combat them.

‘Internal and external threats look like the biggest loophole causing organisations costly data breaches. Therefore, these organisations should revisit their cybersecurity strategy and assess whether the widely-adopted ‘detect and respond’ approach may be reacting to threats a little too late. As cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated, businesses should ensure that networks are adequately secured with a next-generation security platform that looks at prevention rather than remediation,” said Sean Duca, Vice President and Regional Chief Security Officer - Asia-Pacific, Palo Alto Networks.